Advisor and Supervisory Committee
Each new graduate student is assigned an advisor by the Chair of the Glenn Korff School of Music Graduate Committee. The advisor (who becomes that student's Supervisory Committee Chair) must be a member of the Graduate Faculty of the School of Music. The student, in consultation with the advisor, arranges for three faculty members to serve as the Supervisory Committee in approving the thesis proposal, evaluating the recital and/or thesis, and administering and evaluating the student’s oral comprehensive examination. All three committee members must have Graduate Faculty status. The chair and one member must be from the student’s major area, with the chair being the student’s teacher or advisor. The other member must be from an area outside the student’s major area (woodwinds, voice, piano, etc.). Students may not schedule their degree recital until they have submitted the names of the members of the Supervisory Committee, including the chair, to the GKSOM Graduate Coordinator, Kathy Schindler, using the Graduate Forms Submission Portal.
Master of Music Supervisory Committee Form
Occasionally a student will wish to change their applied music instructor. Permission for any change in applied studio assignment must come from the area head. It is not admissible to sign up for a different section of applied lessons without the approval of the area.
The Memorandum of Courses
Detailed course requirements for each MM option, plan, and emphasis are spelled out systematically in the checksheets provided in the next section of this Handbook. With this material in hand, students are expected to arrange their individualized program of studies for all four semesters with their advisor early in the first semester of their academic career at UNL, specifying the course content of each of their three subsequent semesters of study. This should be done before Priority Registration occurs in semester 1 (at the end of October or March), so that the plan already can be followed to register for classes in semester 2. (This will normally be taken care of, then, even before the student has set up a full Supervisory Committee.
The individualized plan needs to be done right away, and it is best to fill out the official memorandum at that time. However, officially a student has until the completion of 18 hours of course work (i.e., normally during the second semester of study for an MM degree) to submit to the Enrollment Specialist for approval by the Graduate Committee the official form required by UNL Graduate Studies called the "Memorandum of Courses" on which are listed all of those courses that the student will use to satisfy all graduation requirements. This form can be downloaded from the UNL Graduate Studies website under "Current Students" under "Steps to Degree Completion" "Master's Degrees." (https://graduate.unl.edu/academics/program-steps/masters-degree-steps-to-completion/).
When the Graduate Committee has approved the student's Memorandum of Courses, the GKSOM Graduate Program Coordinator will file it with the Office of Graduate Studies. If a student fails to submit the Memorandum of Courses at the correct time, any additional coursework does not count toward the degree program. NOTE: A student may not file a Memorandum of Courses and graduate in the same semester or summer.
Changing the Memorandum
Either the student or the student’s Supervisory Committee Chair may initiate a change by submitting a Program or Memorandum Substitution/Change Request to the Graduate Committee through the Graduate Forms Submission Portal. The change(s) must then meet with the approval of the Graduate Committee. Once submitted, the GKSOM Graduate Program Coordinator will process the form, route it for signatures, and submit it to the Office of Graduate Studies.
Minimum Credit Enrollment
Students on a GTA must enroll each semester for a minimum of seven (7) credits. For all students, full-time status requires enrollment in at least nine (9) credits. For more information on credit hours and enrollment status, please see https://registrar.unl.edu/academic-standards/student-status/.
Correction of Registration Errors
A graduate student who has registered in error (for example, enrollment in the undergraduate level of a 400/800 course) should correct the error through the normal drop and add process during the term in which the error occurred.
In the event the error is not recognized until a grade is posted, the student may appeal for correction of registration within sixty (60) days of the posting of the grade report in the Office of the University Registrar. Changes to a student registration record will not be made more than sixty days after grades are posted.
Some Common Requirements
Students pursuing the Music History and the Music Theory Specializations are required to register for "Strategies for Advanced Research in Music" (MUSC 881).
Students, except those students pursuing the Music History, Music Theory, and Music Education Specializations, are required to register for "Introduction to Graduate Studies" (MUSC 836) during their first fall semester of full-time enrollment.
All students pursuing Performance and Jazz Studies Performance Specializations are required to take 3 credit hours of applied lessons during fall and spring semesters.
All students, except those pursuing specializations in Music History, Music Theory, and Music Education, are required to take two theory courses and one history course, or one theory and two history courses.
The following courses may be used to satisfy the music history and music theory requirements:
Music History
- MUSC 835 Music and Film: History and Analysis
- MUSC 837 History of Jazz: Origins to Bop
- MUSC 838 History of Jazz: Post Bop
- MUSC 842 Great Composers & Performers in Music
- MUSC 858 History of the Opera
- MUSC 878 Music of the Twentieth Century I
- MUSC 882 Music of the Twentieth Century II
- MUSC 885 Music of the Classic Period
- MUSC 887 Music of the Baroque Era
- MUSC 888 Music of the Romantic Period
- MUSC 898 Music, Mobility, and Migration**
- MUSC 898 Music and Labor in the 20th and 21st Centuries**
- MUSC 898 Latin American Classical Music**
- MUSC 898 Intro to Ethnomusicology**
- MUSC 986 Seminar in the History and Literature of Music
**The 898 courses listed above are examples of recently approved Special Topics courses. All 898 courses must be approved by the GKSOM Graduate Committee before being included on the memorandum. Additionally, only those approved 898 courses designated as meeting theory/history requirements may be used to fulfill such requirements.
Music Theory
All graduate-level theory courses have the following prerequisite: a grade of “P” (pass) on the Diagnostic Survey in Theory or a grade of “P” in MUSC 848, Graduate Theory Review.
- MUSC 846 Analytic Perspectives (This course fulfills degree requirements for the DMA only when taken during the fall or spring semesters.)
- MUSC 855 Techniques of Counterpoint
- MUSC 856 Prolongational Analysis of Tonal Music
- MUSC 857 Post-Tonal Theory
- MUSC 860 Musical Form
- MUSC 865 Jazz Theory
- MUSC 941 Theory Pedagogy*
- MUSC 979 Seminar in Music Theory
Graduate Only Courses
Thesis and non-thesis options require students to take a different minimum number of 900-level and/or 800-only level credit hours toward the degree. These are courses that are open only to graduate students. The Graduate College criteria for these options are as follows:
| 900 Level and 800-only Level Credit Hours Needed | |
|---|---|
| Thesis (Music History, Music Theory, Music Education w/thesis, Music Composition Specializations) | 8 |
| Non-Thesis (All other Specializations other than those listed above) | 15 |
However, the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) requires that at least one half of the credits required for graduate degrees in music must be in courses intended for graduate students only. Any of the following courses may be used to meet the Graduate Only requirement:
Music, Applied Music, and Music Recitals
- MUSR 098 Graduate Recital (0 cr)
- All MUAP 800 (1 cr), MUAP 900 (1-3 cr) and MUAP 800 alpha (1 cr) applied lessons
- MUEN 800-level Large Ensemble (1 cr)
- MUSC 835 Music and Film: History and Analysis
- MUSC 836 Introduction to Graduate Studies (2 cr)
- MUSC 837 History of Jazz: Origins to Bop
- MUSC 838 History of Jazz: Post Bop
- MUSC 840 Creative Performance in Music (Music Education Specialization) (3 cr)
- MUSC 842 Great Composers & Performers in Music
- MUEN 844 Small Ensemble (1 cr)
- MUEN 852 Grad Chamber Music (1 cr)
- MUSC 856 Prolongational Analysis of Tonal Music (3 cr)
- MUSC 857 Music Theatre Performance (1-3 cr)
- MUSC 858 History of the Opera
- MUSC 881 Music Bibliography (1 cr)
- MUSC 878 Music of the Twentieth Century I
- MUSC 882 Music of the Twentieth Century II (3 cr)
- MUSC 885 Music of the Classic Period (3 cr)
- MUSC 887 Music of the Baroque Era (3 cr)
- MUSC 888 Music of the Romantic Period (3 cr)
- MUSC 885 Music of the Classic Period (3 cr)
- MUSC 898 Special Topics in Music (1-3 cr)
- MUSC 899 Master's Thesis or Original Composition (1-6 cr)
- MUSC 941 Music Theory Pedagogy (3 cr)
- MUSC 942 Music History Pedagogy (3 cr)
- MUSC 969 Diction for Graduate Students (3 cr)
- MUSC 971 The Science of Singing (3 cr)
- MUSC 972 Seminar: Choral Literature (1-4 cr may be repeated as topics vary)
- MUSC 973 Seminar: Orchestral Literature (1-4 cr may be repeated as topics vary)
- MUSC 974 Seminar: Wind Band Literature (1-4 cr may be repeated as topics vary)
- MUSC 977 Performance Practice (2-3 cr)
- MUSC 979 Seminar in Music Theory (3 cr)
- MUCP 983 Seminar in Composition (cr arr)
- MUSC 986 Seminar in the History and Literature of Music (1-24 cr)
- MUSR 998 Graduate Recital (1-3 cr)
Music Education
- MUED 836 Psychology and Sociology of Music (3 cr)
- MUED 838 Inclusive Music Education (3 cr)
- MUED 843 Introduction to Research in Music Education (3 cr)
- MUED 845 Historical & Philosophical Foundations of American Music Education (3 cr)
- MUED 899 Masters Thesis (6-10 cr)
- MUED 928 Capstone: Impacting the Future of Music Education(3 cr)
- MUED 987 Seminar in Music Education (1-6 cr)
- MUED 890, 893 Workshop Seminar (1-12 cr)
- MUED 982 College Teaching in Music (3 cr)